President, Technology Chair

Aspen Thomson, MA (she/her)

Born and raised in the PNW, Aspen is a graduate of the Professional Mental Health Counseling program at Lewis and Clark College. She has been involved in activism and advocacy work since her sophomore year of undergraduate education, and is passionate about transformative justice. She uses a blend of person-centered, ACT, and intersectional feminist therapy in her counseling work. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading, and playing board games with friends.

Past-President

Saren Craig, MA, LPC (they/he)

Saren is an LPC in Portland, Oregon. They hold a BA in Psychology, and an MA in Counseling and Guidance. They grew up on a cattle farm in the Ozarks and attended a religious college, College of the Ozarks, for part of their undergraduate education. The discriminination they experienced at this religious college spurred them to become involved in LGBTQ+ activism.

In their work as an activist they have written editorials for the Springfield News Leader, a regional newspaper in the Ozarks, been featured in Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and on St Louis Public Radio. They are a plaintiff in Hunter v. US Department of Education which is requesting the DOE to stop funding Colleges and Universities that discriminate against LGBTQ+ people

Secretary

Moira Ryan, LPC (she/her)

Treasurer

Aarynn Cypher, MS, CRC (she/her)

Aarynn Cypher has a 20-year history in the helping professions, working as the director of a rural community mentoring program then moving to Portland to support parent/child relationships as a family support specialist/home visitor. She attended Portland State University and earned her Masters of Science degree in Counseling with an accreditation in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling. Aarynn’s activism is based on her value of recognizing that people have inherent worth outside of capitalist notions of productivity. Each person is full of history and life experience that deserves safety and validation. We all belong and are welcome here.